


21

by tanyart



Series: Reaper76 Week 2017 [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch au, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 01:37:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9359900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes are both reassigned to Blackwatch.





	

**Author's Note:**

> **Reaper76 Week: Day 2** \- “In His Shoes”
> 
> A quick AU where both Jack and Gabe end up in Blackwatch. Thank you, [@deers](https://twitter.com/adulture), for letting me play around with the idea! ;u;

The moment Overwatch becomes bigger than a simple task force, Gabriel isn’t surprised when the unsavory concept of Blackwatch follows right after. He is even less surprised when the UN reshuffles the ranks, makes the necessary cuts in their metaphorical deck of cards, and deals out the hand they will play for the next few years. Gabriel flips his file open. The sheets flutter like the sound of cards unfurling beneath his fingers.

Jack is in the room with him when control reassigns them to Blackwatch together. Strike-Commander Amari stands to the side, watching them until one of her officers draws her attention. She is unhappy, though it only shows in the way her lip curls, seemingly polite, as the UN officials escort her out. Gabriel reads through the papers—he catches words like _special forces_ and _covert ops_ —but he’s not an idiot. From the corner of his eye he sees Jack’s face go from neutral to slightly furrowed at the brows. The line of his mouth slants downwards. Jack isn’t fooled either, though Gabriel pauses as Jack’s expression shutters off.

The obedience is immediate, but acceptance comes more slowly.

“I didn’t anticipate this,” Jack confesses, hours after they’ve turned in their Overwatch patches. His eyes flit over to Gabriel through their shared mirror in the barracks. At Gabriel’s short bark of laughter, he glances to the empty spot on his jacket at his shoulder where his rank insignia should have been. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re really surprised?” Gabriel asks, leaning forward from his spot on the bunk. He rests his elbows on his knees, arm raising up to prop one side of his cheek into his palm. He does not mean to sound so cavalier, but it’s easier to be the one less upset, even when something in him seethes angrily as well. “Jack. We’re government classified modified soldiers. They’ll keep us hidden for as long as they have to. What did you think would happen when you signed up?”

Jack unzips his coat, tossing the bright blue fabric in favor of a black tactical jacket. Gabriel catches the symbol of a bird’s skull, a sword affixed to its head to compliment Overwatch’s shield. He knows Jack is competent as the next enhanced soldier, maybe even more so, but for the first time, Gabriel starts to doubt Jack’s willingness.

“I don’t think I thought about anything at all,” Jack says, and puts on the jacket.

 

* * *

 

Blackwatch operations run much like Overwatch missions, only with less omnic targets and more human ones, more shooting and less questions. Gabriel appreciates the efficiency, if not the method. He washes the blood off after every mission, and sometimes he watches the red tendrils swirl down the drain for a good long while before moving on. It’s rare, but it happens.

Gabriel isn’t sure what Jack does in his quiet moments alone. After a while he begins to suspect Jack hasn’t had a quiet moment to himself since being reassigned, and if he has, well—

Jack checks his ammunition, gun and pulse canisters snapping loudly into place. The hacked radio feed chatters in the background. They had killed three civilians to access that channel, their lifeless bodies dragged to the side of the room to make space for more equipment. The place reeks of blood, and Jack’s hands are covered with it.

“Amari’s crew has been contacted,” Gabriel confirms, standing next to him.

“Right. Estimated time until pick up… about twenty minutes,” Jack replies, blinking into his singular optic piece. His voice is distant. When Gabriel’s shoulder bumps against his, he takes a step to the side.

Blackwatch isn’t a prison and it isn’t a lab. In all honesty, Gabriel had expected worse. It’s not a _punishment_ , the same way it isn't an _honor_ , but he thinks Jack is treating it like it is. The bright-eyed soldier who was so willing to serve is going to die in Blackwatch. Gabriel knows it will happen eventually, like a slow train wreck just waiting to crash and burn.

“So, where do you want to go next?” he asks on a whim. He hasn’t seen Jack smile in months.

“Dubai,” Jack replies, rechecking their supplies. Dubai is where their next objective is.

“And then?”

“Russia,” Jack says, more vaguely. They have a planned assassination in the works, and scouting the place will take weeks. The truer answer would be Sochi, but Jack narrows his eyes at him. “...Why are you asking? You should already know this.”

Gabriel crosses his arms, posture relaxed. Jack’s hands are clenched tight around his gun. It’s a change to see Jack so suspicious of him, but they’ve been dealing with a lot of spies and defectors and sleeper agents these past few weeks. Gabriel supposes he doesn’t blame him.

“There’s a tea shop just two miles from here,” he says, shrugging. “We could find another cafe in Dubai though.”

The room goes quiet. Even the radio chatter seems to sputter into a distant hum.

Jack puts a hand to his face, dragging it down in silent exasperation. The blood over his glove leaves a streak of red at his temple and down across his cheek, but he seems oblivious to it.

“Are you serious, Reyes?”

The thing is—Jack’s expectations for bureaucracy and governments have always been astronomically high. He had believed them in the Soldier Enhancement Program, and he had followed them through Overwatch. They had dragged him along, unknowingly leashed, right until they put him in a spot he didn’t want and didn’t like. Jack Morrison had been a chess piece from the start, but it was only until Blackwatch that he decided to take a good look at the hand that had been moving him around.

Gabriel knows the game. If not from the start, then likely some part of him knew deep down, just from living the way he does.

The difference, though, between him and Jack—is that Gabriel likes to put his faith into things he can touch with his own two hands. Abstract convictions like justice and glory don’t anchor him quite like the people he finds himself surrounded by. He believes in capable leaders like Strike-Commander Amari, good-hearted punks like McCree, brave souls like Reinhardt. Geniuses like Angela. Innovative _pain-in-the-asses_ like Torbjörn.

And some part of him even believes in Jack Morrison, duty-bound soldier with a broken loyalty and a crumbling worldview.

“I’m serious,” Gabriel says. “Well, we can’t go _now_. That would be desertion, and that’s too wild for you, I know.”

“Maybe not,” Jack says, solemn, but the set of his shoulders eases down by a fraction.

The channel buzzes between them, a pilot’s voice cutting into the room.

“ETA five minutes,” Jack repeats.

“Damn,” Gabriel says, picking up his gun. He turns to the exit, nudging the swinging door open with his boot. “Saved.”

“Maybe in Dubai,” Jack suggests, following after him, and for once he sounds like he’s looking forward to it.


End file.
